Research & reports
Peer-reviewed research and reports on community urban agriculture, food education, composting, welfare and more.
Theme
Critical findings
5543 results(216 / 222)
Factors affecting the distribution of small mammals in an urban area
2003Philip J. Baker, RACHEL J. ANSELL, PHILLIPPA A. A. DODDS, CLAIRE E. WEBBER, Stephen Harris · Mammal Review · United Kingdom (Bristol)
This study investigated small mammal distribution across five urban habitats in north-west Bristol, including residential and allotment gardens. It found that wood mouse abundance in residential gardens was negatively related to cat abundance and distance to natural vegetation. The results suggest urban small mammal populations may be limited by predation and habitat fragmentation.
BiodiversityCommunityAgricultural management in association with urban residents in the Metropolis of Tokyo
2003Takashi Watanabe, Makoto Yokohari, Ryuto Matsuzawa · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan (Tokyo)
This study clarified farmers' responses to agricultural activities involving urban residents in Tokyo. The findings showed that over half of the farmers engaged in agricultural activities in cooperation with urban residents, and those enthusiastic about such activities tended to excel in farm management. Furthermore, municipalities within the target area were categorized into three types based on the proportion of farmers conducting agricultural activities with urban residents.
CommunityHealthFood educationOrganic cycleOperation G.R.U.B.: Gardens Replace Urban Blight - An Ecological Alternative for Addressing the Health, Socio Economic, and Environmental Needs of At-Risk Communities
2003Neil S. Brantley · San José State University ScholarWorks (San Jose State University) · Global
This research project aims to provide a framework of relevant information for developing sustainable urban agriculture systems as a tool to improve the quality of life for the urban poor. Two different infrastructure contexts are presented, with the intent of relating the applicability of urban agriculture initiatives to enhancing destitute urban communities in both developed and developing worlds, referencing successful case studies. Urban agriculture is beginning to be recognized by the world community as one viable urban development option.
WelfareCommunityHealthEconomicsUrban–rural linkageA discussing on the development of urban agriculture tourism in Guiyang city
2003Zhou Xiao · · China (Guiyang)
This paper summarizes the concepts of urban agriculture and urban agriculture tourism, discussing its development in China and its particularities in Karst areas. It examines the development of urban agriculture tourism in Guiyang city, identifying five advantages and five types of agricultural tourism development. Based on these, the article proposes three zones corresponding to resource allocation for urban agriculture tourism in Guiyang and offers suggestions for its development.
EconomicsCommunityAgricultural management in association with urban residents in the Tokyo Metropolis
2003Takashi Watanabe, Makoto Yokohari, Ryuto Matsuzawa · Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan · Japan (Tokyo)
This study clarified farmers' responses to agricultural activities involving urban residents in the Tokyo Metropolis. The findings showed that over half of the farmers engaged in agricultural activities involving urban residents, and those enthusiastic about these activities often demonstrated excellent farm management. Furthermore, municipalities within the target area were categorized into three types based on the proportion of farmers involved in urban resident-associated agricultural activities.
Urban–rural linkagePolicyCommunityHealthA GIS-based Decision Support System for Neighbourhood Greening
2003Todd A. Randall, Cameron J. Churchill, Brian W. Baetz · Environment and Planning B Planning and Design · Global
A prototype decision support tool, coded as an ArcView GIS extension, is described for managing existing green spaces and establishing new ones in suburban neighborhoods. It suggests techniques like naturalization of parks and increased street foliage, and allows modeling and evaluating future scenarios for sustainable community development. The tool's applications are discussed to illustrate benefits of neighborhood greening strategies.
CommunityBiodiversityPolicy"Community Interested" Individuals
2003Kluthe, Ryan · Occidental College Scholar (Occidental College) · United States
This paper presents observations of 13 teens in the Youth Leadership Council of Highland Park, United States, who dedicated hundreds of hours to community projects without individual incentive. These observations contradict Mancur Olsen's theory that groups only organize under coercion or special devices, suggesting the existence of "community interested" individuals.
CommunityWelfareLearning our way towards a sustainable agri-food system Three cases from Sweden: Stockholm Farmers market, Ramsjö Community Supported Agriculture and Järna Initiative for Local Production
2003Steffen Adler, Stephanie Fung, G. Huber, Lee Hoon Young · Organic Eprints (International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems, and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture) · Sweden
Case studies were conducted on three alternative producer-consumer links in Sweden: Stockholm Farmers Market, Ramsjö Community Supported Agriculture, and Järna Initiative for Local Production. An adapted SWOT analysis identified key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and constraints from multiple perspectives including producers, consumers, the organization, environment, and society. The research assessed how these links might affect surrounding ecosystems and social aspects of the agri-food system, and identified six components contributing to agri-food system development.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityEconomicsFood sovereignty & justice13The city and the country
2003Derek Wall · · Global
The Green movement has historically been defined by ruralism, concerned not just with environmental quality but with promoting a way of life close to the land, with calls for radical land reform by figures like John Ball and Fergus O’Connor. Modern remnants of this "back to the land" campaign include allotments and city farms, often situated in depressed urban areas.
Urban–rural linkageCommunityPolicyNew York's Community Gardens: Follow-Up
2003Cindy Rosenthal · TDR/The Drama Review · United States (New York City)
This abstract provides publication details for an article titled "New York's Community Gardens: Follow-Up" by Cindy Rosenthal, published in TDR/The Drama Review in 2003. The content of the article itself is not provided in the abstract, only its bibliographic information.
CommunityContemporary streamkeepers : a comparison of two urban horticultural restoration programs
2003Charles Rowley · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · United States (California)
This paper compared the successes and failures of two urban creek restoration programs in California: Temescal Creek (initiated nearly 30 years ago) and White Oak Creek (completed about four years ago). Based on the author's success criteria, the more recent White Oak Creek program achieved significant success, while the earlier Temescal Creek restoration did not reach generally acceptable success levels. This difference is attributed to changes in management and scientific practice over 30 years, including substantial changes in the legal basis for restoration, improved monitoring requirements, and the critical role of properly engineered low flow distribution structures.
Limited or null effectCommunityBiodiversityPolicyAgriculture in the City: A Key to Sustainability in Havana, Cuba
2003María Caridad Cruz, Roberto Sánchez Medina · · Cuba (Havana)
This book details a three-year research project by a multidisciplinary team of 15 professionals on the history and current state of urban agriculture in Havana, Cuba. The project assessed the long-term potential of integrating urban agriculture into Havana's social economies and city-wide environmental management programs. The findings are relevant for authorities considering how to transition emergency food production into sustained support for urban agriculture, aiming for food self-reliance and environmental improvement.
EconomicsClimate changeFood sovereignty & justiceCommunityBuilding Houses, Building Lives
2003Lorie Hammond · Mind Culture and Activity · United States (California)
This article uses a narrative format to describe situations in which Mienh immigrant families from a Southeast Asian hill tribe adapt to technological and cultural change within a California elementary school sponsoring a family literacy, school-community garden, and house building project. It argues that adjustments can be creative and empowering if schools incorporate community "funds of knowledge" into their instructional plan. Projects such as gardening and house building provide rich contexts for intercultural dialogues.
CommunityFood educationWelfareThe National Socialist Garden and Landscape Ideal: Bodenständigkeit (Rootedness in the Soil)
2002Wolschke-Bulmahn J., Gröning G. · In R. A. Etlin (ed.), Art, Culture, and Media under the Third Reich, University of Chicago Press, pp. 73–97 · Germany
Book chapter interpreting the Nazi garden and landscape ideal through the concept of 'Bodenständigkeit' (rootedness in the soil), showing how small-scale, landscape-adapted gardens using native plants and materials embodied Blood and Soil ideology.
PolicyCommunityConflicting Rights to the City in New York's Community Gardens
2002Lynn A. Staeheli, Don Mitchell, Kristina Gibson · GeoJournal · USA (New York City)
Analyzes the Giuliani administration's 1998–1999 policy of transferring community gardens to housing development and auctioning 100+ gardens, exposing how a city 'greening then privatizing' policy reversed itself and treated public gardens as disposable exchange-value assets.
PolicyCommunityEconomicsIncommensurability, Land Use, and the Right to Space: Community Gardens in New York City1
2002Karen Schmelzkopf · Urban Geography · United States (New York City)
This study examined the conflict over community gardens in New York City, arguing that it was a struggle concerning the right to space. The city, operating from an entrepreneurial governance perspective, claimed that the gardens represented a loss of exchange value and potential housing. The city used market economy rhetoric to dismiss incommensurable use values, thereby restricting rights to the city within a demonstration of power and "reason."
Governance failureCommunityPolicyEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceIntegrating Community Into the Classroom: Community Gardening, Community Involvement, and Project-Based Learning
2002Regina Day Langhout, Julian Rappaport, Doretha Simmons · Urban Education · Global
This article discusses the tensions faced in facilitating the relationship between teachers and community members while working on a community garden project. The authors adopt an ecological model for effective classroom-community collaboration and discuss how this process unfolded in the current setting. The evaluation includes a discussion of common and disparate goals of teachers and community members and how differences are navigated in the current milieu.
CommunityFood educationParticipatory Approaches to Program Development and Engaging Youth in Research: The Case of an Inter-Generational Urban Community Gardening Program
2002Marianne E. Krasny, Rebekah Doyle · Journal of Extension · Global
This study applied participatory models to an inter-generational program aimed at having youth document ethnic gardening practices in urban community gardens. Outcomes for educators included professional development and the opportunity to expand programs to urban audiences, while youth learned about gardening, developed positive relationships with elders, and enhanced academic skills. Developing relationships with youth was an important outcome for gardeners.
CommunityFood educationElderlyWelfareSocial Inclusion in a Midwest Local Food System Project
2002C. Clare Hinrichs, Kathy S. Kremer · Journal of Poverty · United States
This 1997 case study examined a Midwest community supported agriculture (CSA) project that aimed to increase low-income participation through financial subsidies, using a telephone survey of 41 member-households. The study found that while subsidized households had lower incomes, the overall CSA sample was more advantaged in income, occupation, and education compared to local populations. The project inadvertently served the "advantaged" poor, indicating that social inclusion efforts in local food systems may not effectively reach the most vulnerable.
Equity & displacementCSA & TeikeiCommunityWelfareEconomicsFood sovereignty & justiceThe common green/common ground Performance Project: The Personal, the Political, the Gardens, and NYU
2002Cindy Rosenthal · TDR/The Drama Review · United States (New York City)
In New York City, a group of NYU students and local community activists protested and performed against landlords and the city bulldozing community gardens. Their performance piece documented the transformation of garbage-strewn lots into lush, vital community havens and cried out against their destruction. This highlights a conflict over urban garden governance.
Governance failureCommunityPolicyFood sovereignty & justiceUsing Agriculture as the Foundation for an Extension Nutrition Education Program
2002L. Hughes · Journal of Extension · United States
Rutgers Cooperative Extension developed "From Our Farms," a nutrition and agriculture education program for children aged 3-8 in the United States. This initiative promotes improved nutrition and consumption of locally grown foods through family-based activities offered via local libraries.
CSA & TeikeiFood educationCommunityGrasscutter rearing as an urban agricultural practice in Ibadan Metropolis
2002L. A. Akinbile · African Journal of Livestock Extension · Nigeria (Ibadan)
A study in Ibadan, Nigeria, reviewed grasscutter rearing as an urban agricultural practice. It found that farmers used intensive rearing systems and sold animals for N1,000-N2,100, generating up to N5,000 annually per pair. However, the provision of credit was identified as a major limiting factor for this practice.
Economic viabilityEconomicsCommunityFood sovereignty & justiceCommunity Supported Agriculture (CSA): Building Community Among Farmers and Non-Farmers
2002Jeff Sharp, Eric Imerman, Greg Peters · Journal of Extension · United States
This qualitative study of a Midwestern Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program explored how CSA builds connections between farmers and non-farmers. The findings indicate that CSA successfully met participant goals while fostering community among these groups. The study suggests that CSA can be promoted at the rural-urban interface to strengthen community and support local agriculture.
CSA & TeikeiCommunityUrban–rural linkageThe Impact of School Garden Programmes on Adolescent Nutrition in Ghanaian Schools Contextualized within Democratic Republic of Congo Settings
2002Mandima Bangala, Kamitombo Mbwata, Tshibangu Minko · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Ghana
This study investigated the impact of school garden programs on adolescent nutrition in Ghanaian schools using a mixed-methods approach with surveys, qualitative interviews, and linear regression analysis. A significant positive correlation was found between the number of school garden programs and improved adolescent dietary diversity. The findings suggest these programs can enhance nutritional outcomes, particularly dietary diversity, among participants.
Food educationHealthCommunityLa participation, dans quel sens? L'exemple des organisations communautaires et de l'agriculture urbaine dans les villes de Mexico et de Cuernavaca
2002Manon Boulianne · Anthropologica · Mexico
A study on community organizations and urban agriculture in Mexico City and Cuernavaca suggests that the very meaning of participation becomes an issue for community organizations engaged in popular entrepreneurship development programs. It illustrates how the structuring effects of market production activities lead to a renegotiation of the meaning attributed to participation among the individuals and groups concerned.
Governance failureCommunityEconomicsPolicy